Lynda van Kempen

Bards, Ballads and Bulldust is gearing up for a golden year in 2013.

The odds were tipped slightly in the favour of the hunted and not the hunter this year, and the number of rabbits killed at the annual Great Easter Bunny Hunt was the lowest in nine years.

A country fair at Galloway, near Alexandra, attracted several hundred visitors yesterday, capping a big weekend of celebrations for the small district.

Spotting a 157cm tall, slightly-built woman dressed all in black and toting a gun in the police Armed Offenders Squad can surprise. Liz Williams became the first woman in the North Island Central Districts to be accepted for the squad. Now living in Central Otago, Williams, who is also an author, talks to reporter Lynda van Kempen about her latest book.

Descendants of some of the earliest settlers in the Maniototo, the Inder family, gathered in Naseby at the weekend to mark a milestone anniversary.

The Great Easter Bunny Hunt can have a happy ending - just ask Mike and Kate Evans.

An Australian woman received serious injuries in a head-on collision between two vehicles on a one-lane bridge near Tarras this afternoon.

The first head teacher at the new Maniototo Kindergarten was a foundation teacher at another new Central Otago kindergarten 30 years ago.

The Central Otago District Council is looking at refining the list of about 300 potentially earthquake-prone buildings in the district, with a view to reducing the number and saving money for some building owners.

Making hay while the sun shines is boosting the fundraising drive to convert classrooms at Omakau School into an assembly room.

YEEHA! That's the word from the organisers of a country music hoedown that has outgrown both Omarama and Otematata and is being moved to Cromwell this year.

They say you don't race the Northburn 100 mountain run, you survive it, and Steve Kennard would vouch for that.

Proving he is still on target 57 years later, Alistair Stuart has won the clay target shooting trophy he first scored as a 16-year-old.

No matter where he competes around the world, Dougal Allan rates the Goldrush multisport event as his favourite.

Glenn Sutton's idea of "good fun" would give most people nightmares - 26 hours of running, walking and shuffling across steep terrain, through gale-force winds, snow and sleet.

A children's hunting competition at the weekend, organised by three schoolboys, attracted entries from 65 children.

A prunus tree outside the Otago Regional Council building in Alexandra was shorn off at ground level early yesterday when a man allegedly lost control of the ute he was driving.

Cobb and Co coaches delivered customers to the front door almost 150 years ago, but these days it is bikes that bring most visitors to Dunstan House in Clyde's main street.